The Rapture

[daughterofmary]

I posted this in the other Apologetics section, but I never saw it again.

I have read many websites about the Rapture and Catholic belief on the rapture, and I understand none of them. They are over my head.

Can someone explain to me in a simple way what the rapture actually is, what Catholics believe about it, and why they believe the way they do. I really want to understand this.

Thank you.

In Jesus and Mary,
Marie

 

[Ignatius]

The Protestant version of “The Rapture” is an invention of some 19th century Protestant misinterpretation of the Holy Scriptures. They do not have Sacred Tradition to guide them in their understanding of God’s Word and so this type of error is not uncommon. This erroneous belief did not exist in the Catholic Theology handed down from the Apostles.

 

[thomasf]

Here’s the 5 cent version:

The rapture was made up by an English dispensationalist who predicted, incorrectly several times, the end of the world. Some guy that thought he could translate the bible picked up on it, put it in his study bible. Fearful evangelicals ate it up, and a bunch of preachers have been using the concept to scare gullible people and sell a bunch of really, really bad fiction.

And the catholic church ain’t buying it.

The end.

 

[thistle]

I posted this in the other Apologetics section, but I never saw it again.

I have read many websites about the Rapture and Catholic belief on the rapture, and I understand none of them. They are over my head.

Can someone explain to me in a simple way what the rapture actually is, what Catholics believe about it, and why they believe the way they do. I really want to understand this.

Thank you.

In Jesus and Mary,
Marie

catholic.com/library/rapture.asp

 

[Fidelis]

When each of us dies, our souls are immediately taken to the presence of God and judged. This is called the Particular Judgment. At this point we begin our eternal destiny. If we are going to hell, our souls go directly there. If we are deemed worthy of heaven, our souls will go directly to heaven, or if we are going to heaven but are in need of purification, we may go to Purgatory first for a while (everyone in Purgatory will eventually go to heaven). Whatever our fate, our souls will stay there (heaven or hell) until the end of time, at which time the Second Coming will occur.

At the Second Coming at the end of time, those Christians still alive will be taken to heaven (what some Protestants think of as of the rapture). Then will occur the General Judgment. At that time the souls of the living and the dead will be reunited with their bodies and brought together in God’s presence and judged before all. Those who have already been judged in the Particular Judgment will be brought from wherever their souls were -heaven, hell or Purgatory-- and have their judgment confirmed before all, so that both the justice and mercy of God will be manifest to all.

After this, time and Purgatory will be no more and all will enter with their souls and bodies into their eternal destiny, either hell or heaven.

This is an extremely bare-bones sketch, so if you want to get the details, see the five articles I linked below:

rosary-center.org/ll57n1.htm
rosary-center.org/ll57n2.htm
rosary-center.org/ll57n3.htm
rosary-center.org/ll57n4.htm
rosary-center.org/ll49n6.htm

In addition, you have to learn to recognize erroneous teachings about the End Times popularized by fundamentalists. In other words, toss out the “Left Behind” and “Late, Great Planet Earth” baloney. Here are some resources to help you develop some discernment in these areas:

catholic.com/library/rapture.asp
catholic.com/thisrock/2000/0011fea2.asp
catholic.com/library/false_profit.asp
catholic.com/thisrock/2002/0211fea3.asp
catholic.com/thisrock/2000/0001fea1.asp
catholic.com/thisrock/1995/9510ntg.asp
catholic.com/thisrock/2002/0209fea5.asp
catholic.com/thisrock/1998/9812chap.asp
catholic.com/thisrock/2003/0304bt.asp
catholic.com/thisrock/1997/9705chap.asp
catholic.com/thisrock/1994/9409fea4.asp
catholic.com/thisrock/1994/9410fea2.asp
catholic.com/thisrock/2000/0009bite.asp
carl-olson.com/rapture_articles.html

Here’s a website with several articles from a Catholic perspective regarding this subject. The writer is Carl Olsen, the author of the best selling book “Will Catholics Be Left Behind?”

carl-olson.com/rapture_articles.html

I’d also recommend going to the Catholic Answers home page and putting “Rapture” or “Left Behind” into the “Search” feature. You’ll find several good articles there from reliable writers. Here is one of their Special Reports on this:
catholic.com/library/false_profit.asp

If you’re looking for other good books on the subject by Catholics, look for the following:

The Rapture Trap, by Paul Thigpen
catholiccompany.com/produ…ail.cfm?ID=948

Rapture, by David Currie
catholiccompany.com/produ…il.cfm?ID=3447

If you prefer tapes or CDs, I’d recommend:

The Rapture Files, by Tim Staples
The Rapture Revealed, by David Currie
(both available from St. Joseph’s Communications)
saintjoe.com/

Will You Be Left Behind?, by Carl Olsen
(Same link as above)

Catholics & The Rapture, by Patrick Madid
surprisedbytruth.com/store/shopexd.asp?id=52

Introduction to Prophecy, by Steve Wood
Delusions of Rapture & Prophecy, by Steve Wood and Paul Thigpen
familylifecenter.net/cart… ser=51422080

 

[Ravyn_Guiliani]

the ‘Rapture’ as it is called and understood by Protestants is just wrong. It presumes that there will be a Millennium of 1000 years and some Prots believe it will come at the beginning of this Millennium, some believe it will be at the end and some think it will happen more than once in the middle somewhere(–which would give Christ a Third and Fourth Coming and we know that is not scriptural!)

Catholics believe there will be a time when those left alive on earth will be transformed in a twinkling to Heaven and Final Judgement—but at the End of Time, not around some Millennial time period.

And the scriptures Prots use to support the whole ‘left behind’ theory and the ‘tribulation’ —don’t. It is all something that was made up from some erroneous private interpretation of Revelation in the 1800’s like has been already discussed.

Catholics believe we have been in tribulation since Jesus left the earth, that is why we are called the Church Militant. So far it has been 2000 years not 1000 years. Catholics believe this 1000 years is symbolic for a long time but one that is defined as having an end to it.

The events that Protestants mix up wit the Millennium and the Rapture are events that have already taken place and are yet for the future at the End of Time. So it is not the urgent concern and reason for fear that believers of these doomsday prophecies obsess on. As Catholics we believe we should be ready every day to meet our Maker and be judged–whether because we die or because we live to see the End–whenever it happens.

 

[robert_ambrose]

read your creed, Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead.
ONCE ONLY. that’s it… he will not reign for 1000 years and then judge again

 

[Zenas]

the ‘Rapture’ as it is called and understood by Protestants is just wrong. It presumes that there will be a Millennium of 1000 years and some Prots believe it will come at the beginning of this Millennium, some believe it will be at the end and some think it will happen more than once in the middle somewhere(–which would give Christ a Third and Fourth Coming and we know that is not scriptural!)

Actually Protestants are all over the place in their beliefs on this subject. What you are attempting to describe here is a belief held by fundamentalists known as premillenialism. According to this doctrine, the end of time will be marked with a period of 1,000 years in which Christ will literally and physically reign on the earth, i.e., the millenium. The millenium will be preceded by a seven year period of great tribulation and persecution of Christians. It is at some point during this 7-year period that the rapture will occur. Some believe in a pretribulation rapture. This is the model presented in the Left Behind series of books. Others believe in a mid-tribulation rapture, and still others believe in a post-tribulation rapture. The “rapture” of course refers to the instant removal of all saved persons from the earth and into the company of Christ.

There is further disagreement as to whether it will be possible for any persons “left behind” to be saved. Tim LaHaye, in his Left Behind books, maintains that the Holy Spirit will continue to convict sinners and people will be saved during the tribulation. Charles Stanley, on the other hand, flatly maintains that at the rapture the Holy Spirit will leave the earth and there will remain no further chance for those left behind to be saved.

Finally, at the end of the 7-year tribulation will be the battle of Armageddon. During this battle Christ will make His glorious appearance with all His angels to set up his 1,000 year reign on earth.

 

[Ravyn_Guiliani]

…There is further disagreement as to whether it will be possible for any persons “left behind” to be saved. Tim LaHaye, in his Left Behind books, maintains that the Holy Spirit will continue to convict sinners and people will be saved during the tribulation. Charles Stanley, on the other hand, flatly maintains that at the rapture the Holy Spirit will leave the earth and there will remain no further chance for those left behind to be saved. …

wow–I did not realize that Charles Stanley is even more out there than the average…can you give me any references for his beliefs concerning this? I have a dear friend whose son is captured by Stanley’s ministry and I would like to understand it a little better.

 

[mom2three]

I posted this in the other Apologetics section, but I never saw it again.

I have read many websites about the Rapture and Catholic belief on the rapture, and I understand none of them. They are over my head.

Can someone explain to me in a simple way what the rapture actually is, what Catholics believe about it, and why they believe the way they do. I really want to understand this.

Thank you.

In Jesus and Mary,
Marie

John Martignoni has a great CD on this topic and you can download it for free here: biblechristiansociety.com/download

 

[Zenas]

wow–I did not realize that Charles Stanley is even more out there than the average…can you give me any references for his beliefs concerning this? I have a dear friend whose son is captured by Stanley’s ministry and I would like to understand it a little better.

Preparing for Christ’s Return by Charles F. Stanley (paperback and audio). Barnes and Noble has it and I’m sure other large outlets do too.

 

[Scottgun]

Actually Protestants are all over the place in their beliefs on this subject.

No doubt. Just go to a non-Catholic forum, start a thread called, “Are you Pre, Mid, or Post tribulation?” and stand back and watch the fur fly.

Scott

 

[Lev23]

No doubt. Just go to a non-Catholic forum, start a thread called, “Are you Pre, Mid, or Post tribulation?” and stand back and watch the fur fly.

Scott

Why just go there, just look at some interpretation on this particular forum on Revelation!

 

[Janet_S]

I posted this in the other Apologetics section, but I never saw it again.

I have read many websites about the Rapture and Catholic belief on the rapture, and I understand none of them. They are over my head.

Can someone explain to me in a simple way what the rapture actually is, what Catholics believe about it, and why they believe the way they do. I really want to understand this.

Thank you.

In Jesus and Mary,
Marie

There is a section in the Catechism (#668-682):

vatican.va/archive/catechism/p1s2c2a7.htm

and #769, The Church - perfected in glory:

769 "The Church . . . will receive its perfection only in the glory of heaven,"179 at the time of Christ’s glorious return. Until that day, "the Church progresses on her pilgrimage amidst this world’s persecutions and God’s consolations."180 Here below she knows that she is in exile far from the Lord, and longs for the full coming of the Kingdom, when she will "be united in glory with her king."181 The Church, and through her the world, will not be perfected in glory without great trials. Only then will "all the just from the time of Adam, ‘from Abel, the just one, to the last of the elect,’ . . . be gathered together in the universal Church in the Father’s presence."182
179 LG 48.
180 St. Augustine, De civ. Dei, 18,51L 41,614; cf. LG 8.
181 LG 5; Cf. 6; 2 Cor 5:6.
182 LG 2.

 

[ChadS]

Marie,

Don’t let the talk about pre-, post- and mid-tribulation throw you for a loop. Just know that among Protestants they can’t even begin to agree on this themselves. There is no profit for a Catholic to wade in on those discussions except to say that no matter which position is taken it is unBiblical and has absolutely no warrant in Sacred Tradition or the deposit of faith or even in Scripture for that matter (despite their protestations to the contrary).

I’ve read Carl Olson’s “Will Catholics Be Left Behind?” It is a wonderful book and it certainly clears up any questions a Catholic could have about this Protestant doctrine. It also reveals the basic anti-Catholic bias that permeates the “Left Behind” books. I can’t recommend it enough.

ChadS

 

[Jesusstreet]

Saint Thomas Aquinas from Summa Theologica . …

 

[SeanTom]

The Catholic Church does not believe in the Rapture.

The Rapture is a claim that Jesus Christ is coming back to earth, not once more, but twice, a total of three times… One of those times, this teaching asserts that He will come SECRETELY to take away true believers from the world so they can escape the great tribulation – a time of natural catastrophes, and the brutal persecutions of the Antichrist.

This scenario of the Rapture is alien to both sacred Scripture and sacred Apostolic Tradition (Tradition as handed down from the Apostles).

It’s important to note that this isn’t a Catholic-Protestant disagreement. Most Protestants throughout history, and most Protestants today, have rejected the notion of a SECRET Rapture. None of the major leaders of the Protestant Reformation ever taught such a doctrine. But there are still some Protestant faiths that believe in this Rapture.

The Rapture, as it is currently taught in some Christian circles, seems to have evolved in the 19the century. At that time, two British preachers began circulating the idea, and it spread to America through several popular revival preachers and a best-selling Bible whose commentary promoted it.

The single scriptural detail that most excites Rapture believers is found in St. Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thes. 4:16-17

As we examine this text, first we must ask how being “caught up” to Christ could possibly be a SECRET occurrence. The apostle gives enough details to make it clear that he is talking about a glorious and public event

But even if we should allow that Jesus is saying the righteous will be the ones taken and the wicked will be left, then the passage still fits the Second Coming scenario we have described: When Christ returns, publicly and in clouds of glory, the righteous will be caught up to meet Him as He descends to Earth, while the wicked remain to await imminent judgment. No SECRET, invisible, extra coming of Christ is depicted here

Now, what is the danger of the Rapture teaching? It can lead Christians to give up on trying to improve society. If the world is headed to destruction, and God’s plan for God’s soldiers is to escape rather than fight the enemy, then why bother?

But the larger issue, of course, is the possibility of redemptive suffering. Rapture teachers often imply that Christians are exempt from suffering God’s punishment in this life. They fail to understand that suffering can become a channel of God’s cleansing grace; that even when we’re innocent, our suffering at the hands of evildoers can be joined to Christ’s own suffering, thus cooperating with his redemptive work in the world. For all these reasons, God has no plan to snatch humankind out of the world when the Antichrist comes.

An overview of the above, along with scriptural passages that confirm it, is stated as follows:

1. Jesus will return to the Earth in a glorious triumph that is universally visible and undeniable --not invisible and SECRET.
2. First, however, the Antichrists will appear to persecute the Church.
3. The Church will suffer the great tribulation prophesied by her Lord.
4. The final victory of Christ on Earth will not come through a gradual improvement in the world’s spiritual condition, nor by a special period of his earthly reign before judgment day. It will take place not within history, but beyond it, after Christ has brought an end to history in a glorious Second Coming.
5. The dead will be raised.
6. Christ will judge the living and the dead, and the Devil will at last be utterly overthrown.
7. At the end of time, God’s kingdom will come in fullness, and all things will be renewed. The entire universe will be perfected.

There is much more to print, but I am limited to so many words per posting.

 

[Zenas]

Well stated, SeanTom. However, I can’t rule out a rapture of some kind–probably a rapture of the wicked at or near the time of Christ’s return. See Matthew 24:40-41. In the parable of the wheat and the tares we find Jesus saying, “In the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, first gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.” Matthew 13:30. This certainly suggests that the wicked will be taken and the righteous left, exactly the opposite of the dispensational premillenial school of thought.

Incidentally, these are my ruminations, not something I ever read anywhere.

 

[SeanTom]

Zenas,

Here’s another interesting thought. Even if we grant that Rapture refers to the end times, we need only read the words introducing this scenario to see the flaw in a Rapture interpretation. “As were the days of Noah…the flood came and swept them all away” (Mt 24:37,39). In the days of Noah, the wicked were taken by flood waters and the righteous (Noah and his family) were left behind in safety. If the Rapture teachers are correct in thinking that this passage applies to the close of the age, then it would seem to prove the opposite of what they teach about who gets taken (i.e. the wicked were taken) and who gets left behind (i.e. the righteous – Noah and his family, were left behind).

 

[Zenas]

Zenas,

Here’s another interesting thought. Even if we grant that Rapture refers to the end times, we need only read the words introducing this scenario to see the flaw in a Rapture interpretation. “As were the days of Noah…the flood came and swept them all away” (Mt 24:37,39). In the days of Noah, the wicked were taken by flood waters and the righteous (Noah and his family) were left behind in safety. If the Rapture teachers are correct in thinking that this passage applies to the close of the age, then it would seem to prove the opposite of what they teach about who gets taken (i.e. the wicked were taken) and who gets left behind (i.e. the righteous – Noah and his family, were left behind).

I agree, and the proponents of dispensational premilleniumism are so caught up (pardon the pun) in their complicated theory that they seem completely oblivious to this.